Dan Paul Roberts

Since 2017 I have generated all of the visual marketing for Hula’s Bar & Lei Stand, The Gathering Place for Explorers and Waikiki’s premier watering hole for over 46 years. Hula’s has always had an in-house marketing team, and I was honored to take the reins for this LGBTQIA institution and help Hula’s move into the 21st Century.

I have worked for over fifteen years as a professional graphic designer and illustrator.  I have worked as a lead staff designer, designed the logo for NYC's first National Women's Hockey Team, produced illustrations for the Apple App Store and created the image of numerous businesses and events.  I created the marketing for one of New York's most popular dance clubs, and I am currently developing a public art installation for two floors of the Royal Hawaiian Center in Honolulu.  

For the past few years, I've been experimenting with transferring my drawings onto garments as well as creating my own patterns through a partnership with PAOM.com

CLOWN BOY is a Middle Grade Graphic Novel and is the story of Toby, who, like many adolescents, just wants to fly under the radar.  He's always felt like an outsider in Clown Town, and now that he's found something he's good at, excelling in math and science at a magnet school in the human city, he doesn't want to jeopardize it, even if that means passively deceiving others.  Toby is halfway through his first six weeks at Livingston Academy, and things seem to be going pretty well, until a school function reveals everything he's been trying to hide...

I find myself drawing bears constantly.  Bears at the bus stop, bears at a ballet lesson.  Since moving to Hawaii, I've been invoking my signature mammals in island settings and situations--even though there are no bears in Hawaii.  This collection of is accompanied by lyrical text intended to induce smiles.

Airplane boy is a wordless story that peeks inside the mind of a boy with little outer affect.  Our main character navigates the world around him through surreal imaginings that can make the world more inviting but sometimes more scary.  Eventually he is able to make a connection that reaches beyond his interior perspective.

'An Artist Is' tells a story through lyrical verse about what it means to be a creative in the world.  Not all artists use paint and brushes.  Some create with their words or music or their dance moves.  The narrative continues to expand the concept of what it means to be an artist, enumerating through humorous illustrations all manner of working artists in the world.  

The 'It's My Job!' series of early reader titles detail some of the lesser extolled professions that a person can have.  

This first book follows a young dog walker in the city who describes all the aspects of his job, from stinky to heartwarming.  His story articulates themes of responsibility and care taking.

The second book, 'It's My Job! Hair Stylist', will deal more with creativity and collaboration.  And the third book, 'Bodega Man', will cover themes of community and entrepreneurship.  

What began as a fun side-project, creating a pack of stickers for Messages in the Apple App Store, soon began to grow a series of stories about these Mermaid Best Friends Forever, Caroline and Bretney.  These two do everything together, but what happens when a birthday surprise becomes a test of who-knows-their-best-friend-best?  

Elton is an elf with giant antlers.  Xanthal is a dragon who would rather read books than hunt.  When these two meet, a friendship is formed that reveals a doorway to another world.  In 'The Dragon and the Elf', both Xanthal and Elton discover the joy of friendship and the power of two.  

'Ghost Boy' is the sequel to 'The Dragon and the Elf' and returns to New Elf City where Elton and Xanthal are called once again to travel to the world of Tereth Macvena, where some not-so-nice faeries have been up to no good.  In this story, the importance of family and communication is emphasized.  

'The Rabbit and the Dragon' is a story about the transformative power of love.  Though they are very different, the Rabbit and the Dragon share a special friendship like no other.  When the Dragon learns that the Rabbit will die someday, he devises a plan to keep the two of them together.

This humorous story follows our main character, Sheila who wants, more than anything to be a big star, but what happens when she actually finds herself on stage in front of an audience?

In an alternate early 1900's America, we meet Alice, a gap-toothed girl in glasses from Juniper Grove.  Even though she can talk to her cat and sometimes causes sparks when she sneezes, she's practically invisible until a glamorous, powerful witch comes from far away with a jewel called a heartstone.  After a whirlwind of unexpected events, Alice finds herself bidding her family farewell and traveling to Union City to be Apprentice to the Magistrate of the West.  But why was she chosen?  What is the Magistrate hiding?  And what's the significance of her upcoming 13th birthday?  This middle grade novel is about developing relationships as well as uncovering mysteries.

Kai is a young merboy with a taste for adventure.  Through having a variety of friends, Kai learns that a compromise can sometimes be better than getting your own way.  

I collaborated with photographer Richard Burroughs to create the Sticks & Stones series of images for Revelation Magazine.  The fashion editorial took on the subject of bullying, and I was tasked with making the illustrated bullies look as monstrous as they appear to their victims.

This style of drawing emerged for me when working on illustrations for The Sketchbook Project.  I became obsessed with interlocking patterns of figures and objects.  I've used this technique to create textile designs as well as coloring book pages, using my connecting drawings to tell a story.

Yeah, they're kind of a thing with me.  I'm just transfixed by the idea--and artist's imaginings--of these sea-ladies.  So graceful and mysterious.  Welcome to my mermaid gallery...